Jefferson Parish Council moves to cancel contract for Terrytown gym

Jefferson Parish is moving to cancel a Kenner construction company's $5 million contract to build a gym at the Terrytown Playground two months after the firm's president was arrested for allegedly failing to pay subcontractors, who have walked off the job.

Susan Poag/The Times-PicayuneA fence surrounds the Terrytown Gym which is about 85 percent complete. The Jefferson Parish Council is moving toward cancelling the contract of builder JaRoy Construction of Kenner after its president was arrested for not paying subcontractors. Information Jan Buras, president of JaRoy Construction, was booked in February with misapplication of about $500,000 in payments to subcontractors on more than 20 construction jobs throughout the New Orleans area, including nearly $400,000 for the Terrytown gym.

Work has halted on the gym, which was supposed to be finished last fall and is about 85 percent complete, parish officials said.

The Parish Council unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday authorizing administrators to cancel the gym contract in seven days unless JaRoy's bonding company steps in and gets subcontractors back on the job.

Councilman Chris Roberts said the bond company, Ohio Casualty, requested the seven-day grace period because once the contract is canceled, the subcontractors no longer have to honor terms of deals they signed with JaRoy.

He said Ohio Casualty has agreed to start paying the subcontractors but doesn't want to pay higher rates than what JaRoy had negotiated.

The council, which passed the resolution after discussing the case in a closed executive session, rejected JaRoy attorney Sara Johnson's request for a public hearing on the matter.

"It's just a shame," Johnson said. "JaRoy would welcome the opportunity to address these issues. Unfortunately, I fear our first opportunity to do so will be in court."

Roberts said the company has had more than enough time to respond to the parish's concerns and get the project back on track.

"What I think is a true shame is that we've had thousands of young athletes in the Terrytown community that have had to wait so long for a gym," he said.

Last month, the council cited JaRoy's "unsatisfactory performance" on the gym project in rescinding a $100,000 painting and wallpapering contract awarded to JaRoy a month before Buras' arrest.

The state attorney general's office began investigating JaRoy last summer after numerous subcontractors complained they were not being paid for work on public construction projects throughout the New Orleans area.

According to an arrest warrant, investigators are also looking into allegations that JaRoy rigged public bids with other contractors and then employed the losing bidders as subcontractors.

An attorney for Buras has characterized the charges against Buras as business disputes, not criminal acts.